Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Elder Oliver here once again! coming live from Lomas
de Atizapán México! haha. I am just sending an update on how everything
is going with me! I am healthy and safe! We had a really good week! We
worked hard and we are having a little trouble finding new people to
teach. But hey that is the Mission. Something That I love about the
mission is that it gives me the chance to try and figure out new ways to
find solutions to the problems that we face. As my dad would say
CRITICAL THINKING! Something that I was never very good at before the
mission haha. So I am grateful for the opportunity that the Lord has
given me to develop characteristics that I lack. We are doing alright
though. We have been having a lot of fun when it comes to the work. This
a great area. It is fun to see these people making the changes in there
lives to see the gospel change them and see them become more and more
happy! It is something really awesome!

So I read a really good talk this week it is called "believing
Christ a practical approach to the atonement" I would suggest to
everyone to go read it or even better listen to it on speeches.byu.edu.
It is great! I cannot remember who gave it...but it is really good! I
helped me think about my savior and really how much power the atonement
has in our lives. It does not matter what we have done..We can be clean
through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We can overcome anything. The
only thing that we need to do is believe it. It is true but sometimes we
feel so bad about something or we feel so overwhelmed with a calling in
the church or our responsibilities. That we feel like we cannot make
into the celestial kingdom! It is possible for everyone. EVERYONE! That
is so awesome to think about. That our Heavenly Father loves us so much
that he has given us and everybody the opportunity to live with him
again. He gave his firstborn son as a sacrifice so that all of us can be
with him. I cant explain how much love I feel. When I think about that.
I know that God loves us and he wants us to be as happy as he is. It is
possible all we need to do is be faithful and make sure our live are in
a agreement with his laws and commandments. It is possible. I loved
this talk and it really helped me see how all we need to do is trust
him. He will catch and us and carry us where we need to go if we let
him! I thought it was something really awesome and beautiful to think
about.

I am so grateful for all the support and love you all give me!
Thanks so much for the letters and the prayers they mean so much! i hope
you have a great week! I love you all so much until next week!

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Elder Oliver once again in a little internet server
here in Mexico! So to start off I am doing very well! I am healthy and
having a great time here Mexico! Today we went bowling with a few other
elders! And guess what??????? I had a 4 bagger! if you do not know what
that means it is 4 strikes in a row! And anybody who knows how great of a
bowler I am you know that it is a straight up miracle! So that was
awesome. It was funny because I started off with 4 gutter balls in a row
and followed it up with 4 strikes haha. I am just silly sometimes. So
to explain why I named this letter Mexican construction cone....I put a
picture of a hole in the road here in my area. And what they do to warn
people that there is a giant hole in the road is they put a bunch of
branches in it. haha. But it gets the job done! So I definitely cannot
judge!

So we had a good week of work! We found some new investigators and
we had a few that went to church for the first time. We had 7 people
come to church so that was really exciting! We have been working really
hard with the families of Imelda and Iliana. They are really great
people and they just need to trust in the Lord but right now they fault a
the faith. But that is why we are here to give them the opportunity for
their faith to grow. It has been great trying to help them receive the
gospel. We have an investigator who we found that has recently lost his
wife. It has been less than a year since she passed. When we found him
he said that he was really sad and that he missed his wife. He was
somebody who needed the gospel. I mean obviously everybody needs the
gospel. But he was someone who needed hope. He needed to know that it
was possible for him to see his wife again. We had a few lessons with
him and then we lost contact. He didn´t answer our phone calls he didn´t
try and make contact after we had called. We ended up finding him this
week! We are really excited to start teaching him again! He is a really
great person and has a great family! They need these blessings!

Sometimes in the mission when people fall through or we have to
drop an investigator it makes you reflect. It makes you reflect on how
you are doing as a missionary if you are really doing all that you can
to help these people. It is something that is good to think about
because I am able to find so many things that I can do better. I am
grateful for the mission because not only am I helping other people
become better! But I am helping myself become better too. I am
sooooooooo far from where I need to be that sometimes I can feel
overwhelmed. I think a lot people feel that way sometimes. But that is
what is so awesome about the gospel that we can always repent everyday
and become better and better little by little. Perfecting ourselves one
step at a time. There is a quote I like that I am pretty sure is from
David O. Mckay that says "the gospel is to make bad men good, and good
men better" I love it! We are never done there never comes a point that
we can say "Yup I sure got this gospel thing down" We are always going
to have something that we can improve. I think it is so great. Great,
great, great. Anyways if you are ever feeling down there are to great
scriptures that always help pick me up. Joshua 1:9. and D&C 68:6.

I love the mission! I love all of you! For the support you give me!
Your prayers and letters and packages and love! I hope that all of you
have a great thanksgiving! I will be thinking of you all! I hope you all
are safe on black Friday or as my dad told me it sounds like it will be
starting 9 on Thursday. which is a little crazy. Here in Mexico black Friday is a week long and it is this week too so we will see how that
goes! haha. Love you all so much Have a great week! Till next time!

Elder Oliver here once again! I hope all of you are doing
wonderful! Sounds like a lot of snow dumped on the ole Salt Lake Valley!
I hope that nobody had a car accident or anything like that. I am doing
well here healthy and safe. We have been working really hard here in
Alamedas. It has been fun!

This week we had another baptism! Hermana Imelda got baptized
yesterday. It was a really special service and we were all really
excited for her and the step that she was taking with baptism. She is a
really special lady who only wants the best for her family. We have been
teaching her for awhile and she has told us that she wants her family
to grow with God in their lives. We know that in the church it is more
than possible for her to reach her dream. She was the only one who got
baptized today but we are going to keep working with whole family
because she has 4 kids two of them are of age to get baptized and also
her husband. It is tough to make a decision like she did alone. She was
willing to put the example for all of her family and show them how much
the gospel can bless our lives. We are really excited to keep working
with her family and we are hoping to have some more baptisms soon!

The mission is something that is really awesome. I named this email
how sweet it is because that is how I feel! Here in the mission
watching these people change their lives is the most beautiful thing.
Seeing them apply the atonement in their lives and seeing them receive
the blessings of the gospel is such a rich experience. Helping these
people to get closer to entering the temple to be sealed as an eternal
family is something that I cannot thank Heavenly Father enough for. We
are trying really hard to help these people get the blessings of the
gospel and find what they are looking for in their lives. I love being
here in Mexico! I love speaking Spanish I am still not fluent but that
is ok I am studying to get better everyday. I love being her to help
these people to receive the blessings of the Gospel it is awesome!

I love you all so much and i am so grateful for the support that
you all give me! I love you all and I hope that you all have a splendid
week! Until next week!

How is it going?? I hope that everything is going
well! I am doing well once again. This week we got news of the
transfers....and guess what??? Elder Nilsson is going to stay here one
more transfer! So that was exciting news he is going to be here in this
area for 6 and half months! haha. It is a lot. but it is great also we
have been working really hard and having a lot fun in the process. We
had a baptism this week of the Hermana Iliana! I hope that you enjoy the
pictures! It was really beautiful the service. We are really happy for
her and the changes that she has made in her life so that she could come
and receive the blessings of the gospel! She has overcome a lot and
still has a long way to go. The other lady in the picture is her mom
Margarita. We are hoping to work with her and help her get to receive
these blessings as well. Because she is very special too. They are a
family that have a very dysfunctional household. There are aunts and
uncles who live there that are always fighting. It is kind of
interesting because we never know what we are going to walk into when we
visit them. But we are so happy for her and we are hoping that the
family can feel the spirit and receive an answer that is the correct
path for them too!

We are also planning another baptism this upcoming week. We are
really excited for Imelda who is really excited to get baptized and be
apart of the church. She is really special too! We are trying to work
with her kids and her husband because they are great family and they
would be wonderful members all of them. The husband says that he has
vices that he does not want to give up. haha. We explained to him the
things that he needs to do in order to be part of the church. He seemed a
little more interested because he realized that it is not that much!
haha. He is a good man and I think that the hermana is going to help
bring him in along with her kids. We are hoping to have some more
success with these two families. Because we all know that it is god for
one person to join the church but it is better for the whole family to receive the blessings of the gospel and enter the temple to be sealed!
So pray for these families that they can receive answers that this is
the one and only true church on the earth! PLEASE! haha.

I love you all so much! I am so grateful for the support you give
me! I feel your love and your prayers everyday! It is something really
special to have the support I have! I am so grateful! I hope that you
all have a great week and I will talk to y´all next week! :)

Elder Oliver here once again! How is everybody doing? Good? I sure
do hope so! I am doing well here in Mexico. Healthy and happy! We had a
good week of work! But before I get to that I want to explain the
pictures! First This week we had a zone conference. And I was able to
see Elder Hyde and Elder Shuler my old buddies from the MTC. SO that was
really awesome Elder Shuler is the one on the right! Hyde in middle and
of course me on the left :) Next it is just a picture of me modeling
the city. And last....I know you are probably wondering what the heck I
am eating...Well it is a little restaurant that one of the members have
here in the ward. They are called Bandarillas. What I am eating is a
shishkabob (hope thats right) that has cheese and banana and it is deep
fried. haha Yes it is horrible for me but I must admit that it was
delightful! It has frosting and caramel. Oh....it was wonderful and I
plan returning soon!

So like I said we had another good week of work! We are preparing a
baptism this week for Iliana! We are really excited for her! We have a
lot investigators who are progressing and it seems that our teaching
pool is increasing everyday. We had a bummer this week though we were
expecting one of our investigators to come to church. We had a member
pass by to pick them up. We were waiting in the door and when we saw the
member come in alone we asked what happened and she told us that her
husband got really upset when he heard that she was talking to the
missionaries and did not let her go. He is very catholic. It is a
problem in all of Mexico! Catholicism is huge. Everybody is catholic
haha. But it was sad. We are hoping that we will be able to find her
this week and see what we can do to help her and talk with her husband.
Because it is hard for us to teach just one person in the family for
reasons like this. So we hope that we can find him and her this week to
help resolve some doubts and concerns. But besides that one incident we
have been doing very well!

Oh another change that has happened. With the new crazy and great
news that President Monson gave us in conference about the age change
for the missionaries. There has been a lot more missionaries applying to
go to the mission. The MTCs dont have enough space for all of them
haha. I am talking about the one here Mexico I don't know about Provo or
anything but here in Mexico. So what they are doing to counteract this
problem is changing the program for the Mexican missionaries to 2 weeks
instead of three in the MTC. So what I am trying to get at is that there
is a another change on when I will be coming home. haha. I had told you
that I would be coming home three weeks early. But that no longer is
the case I will be coming home on the day that was originally scheduled
haha. It is a lot of changing but that is alright. So just thought I
would let you guys know that the new change of the age is something
really awesome. There are so many more missionaries that the MTC does
not have room! haha. I think it is awesome!

Anyway I love you all so much! I hope you all had a great week and I
hope you have a good one this week! Thanks so much for you prayers and
support! It means so much"! Until next time!

About Me

Josh has been called to serve in the Mexico City North Mission. He checks into the MTC on Jan. 18th and will serve in Mexico for two years. This blog is here to update others on his mission and to share pictures and letters. Please enjoy!